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© 2008 Jordan Institute
for Families

Vol. 13, No. 2
March 2008

Training for NC's Child Welfare Supervisors

This article outlines current training resources and describes important new changes the NC Division of Social Services is making to support supervisors as they seek to achieve the best possible outcomes for families and children.

Current Training
Like all those who provide child welfare services, by law supervisors must complete 72 hours of pre-service training before assuming their job responsibilities. In addition, within 12 months of assuming managerial duties supervisors must complete 54 hours of additional training. To fulfill these requirements, supervisors attend two courses: Child Welfare in North Carolina and Introduction to Supervision for Child Welfare Services. In addition, within their first year supervisors must attend these courses: Legal Aspects, Medical Aspects, and Child Development in Families at Risk.

After their first year, by law supervisors must receive 24 hours of continuing education annually. To help them meet this obligation the Division offers the following courses specifically for supervisors:

  • Cornerstone II: What’s Good for Families Is Good for Workers, a four-day, classroom-based course that explores the relationship between parallel process, supervisory coaching, and family-centered practice.
  • Cornerstone IV: Supervisors Working with Others, Working with Outcomes, a four-day, classroom-based course that teaches supervisors from all program areas within an agency how to analyze and use data to measure progress toward successful outcomes and build collaboration with various stakeholders.
  • Supervisors Strengthening Staff Performance: Managing Transfer of Learning in the Work Place, a blended learning course for supervisors who want to help staff members transfer classroom learning into the workplace. Consists of four days in the classroom and the equivalent of one day online.

Newly Required CFT training
Having seen the effectiveness of properly implemented child and family team meetings (CFT), county DSS agencies and community partners have suggested to the Division of Social Services that all child welfare workers and supervisors would benefit from mandated training on CFT meetings. In response the Division has made the course Step by Step: An Introduction to Child and Family Teams a requirement for all child welfare workers and supervisors hired on or after February 1, 2008, to be completed within the first year of employment. Social workers and supervisors hired before February 1, 2008 are required to take this course within the next 12 months unless they have already met this training requirement by:

  • Successfully completing Step by Step: An Introduction to Child and Family Teams; OR
  • Successfully completing both Setting the Stage for Family-Centered Meetings: County Orientation and Caution: Family Centered Meeting Ahead!

In addition, because the use of a neutral facilitator significantly enhances the effectiveness CFT meetings, the course Anchors Away! How to Navigate Child and Family Teams: The Role of the Facilitator is now required for anyone facilitating a CFT meeting in high and intensive risk cases. For facilitators beginning facilitation on or after February 1, 2008, completion of the course is required within the first 12 months of facilitating. For facilitators who began facilitation prior to Feb. 1, 2008, completion of this course is required by March 8, 2009, unless previously completed. The training is also strongly recommended for those who facilitate meetings in moderate risk cases but is not, at this time, mandated.

To register and view all current offerings of these courses, please visit <www.ncswlearn.org>.

Supervisor Resources on ncswLearn.org

The “Supervisor Resources” section of ncswLearn.org allows county DSS supervisors to manage all aspects of training related to their employees. Through this area of the site supervisors can:

  • Use “Employee Management” to add information about employees not currently in the training system and edit personnel information for employees currently in the training system
  • Register their employees for training:
    • Use the “Search for Training Events,” “Training Calendar,” or “Training Catalogue” options for differents view of upcoming training events
    • Once they have created their employees’ registration applications, supervisors can use the “Employee Registration Cart” to submit registration applications for all their employees simultaneously
  • View their employees’ Individualized Training Assessments (ITA), training attendance history, and training schedules
  • Cancel their employees’ training registrations if needed

Supervisors can use the options presented on the left-hand side of the ncswLearn.org screen to perform the tasks listed above. Note that these options are very similar to those in the Personalized Learning Portfolio (PLP), but are customized specifically to your employees. Use the PLP to register yourself for training, view your training attendance history, etc.